A historical deep dive into abortion in America in the 19th century, when the practice was legally and morally acceptable:
Abortion was so frequent, according to one doctor, that “it [was] rare to find a married woman who passes through the childbearing period, who has not had one or more.” Women spoke of it casually. They might decide to be “put straight,” “opened up,” or “fixed.” (They wouldn’t have said “abortion,” as that term belonged to the medical lexicon, not the vocabularies of ordinary people.) One physician reported that women “talk about such matters commonly and impart information unsparingly.” Although some doctors would perform the procedure, many women, especially in rural areas, induced abortions on their own using drugs or herbs and wisdom passed from one generation to another.
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